job titles in the digital age

Well, this week's readings cause me to revisit a topic from a previous post, in which I talked about the trouble I had researching alternate names for various programs within our two-year multimedia education offerings. Part of the problem is that the field is so new that generic titles are not yet standard. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is one source we use to predict employment trends, trails rather than leads in defining digital media job titles.

Our program's advisory committee consists of people working in industry (Microsoft, Nordstrom.com, Amaze Entertainment to name a few), non-profit, and education sectors (Seattle Art Museum, Bellevue School District). Our program allows students to specialize in the following areas: game design/animation, video production/streaming media, and web/print design. So our committee is a varied group. At our last couple of meetings, we've spent a fair amount of time discussing how we can prepare students to become web designers. In the early days of our program, web design evolved from the print design world and was pretty straightforward, provided the student had the aptitude for HTML. Today's environment is much more complex, and we commonly find employers asking for skills which encompass both design and coding.

The problem is that good design aptitude and good coding skills rarely exist in the same individual--in fact I often joke in class that most of our multimedia students are math-phobic. Math and logic skills certainly are a prerequisite for dealing with HTML, CSS, XML, Javascript, database programming, and other web development tools.

So how to reconcile the two? One suggestion from our advisory committee was to have students take an intro-to-programming class that would at least teach them which design features can and can't be coded by a developer.

I appreciated the review of job titles in the two articles (Web Team Roles and Publishing Team) as it helped clarify for me where responsibilities might lie in a large team. Unfortunately, too often employers want an unrealistic skill set in a single individual. For example, I was recently asked to serve at the last minute on a hiring committee for a new website manager. The long list of job requirements included a) writing/marketing/branding skills, b) development/management of all aspects of website and intranet, c) design/implementation of UI, streaming media, special effects, and new technology, d) budgeting and regulation compliance, e) data/market analysis. Preferred qualifications included a 4-year degree and experience in graphic design, knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, XML, ASP.net, best practices for web site architecture, and several other areas.

My thinking was that with luck, we might find a candidate with skills in two of the three primary areas: marketing/branding, web development, or graphic design. Expecting a single individual to have skills in all three areas is unrealistic, in my view. But I was not surprised at the job description, as I've seen many like it.

The takeaway for our Digital Message Design class is this: employers may ask for the moon, and you may feel you need to become expert in a wide area to even qualify for an interview, but don't discount the experience and skills you already bring to the digital media arena. More knowledge is certainly better, but everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and none of us can be good at all of it.